Author | Thread |
smackeddog
Posts: 38386 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 3/30/2005 Member: #883 |
1/6/2018 4:41 AM LAST EDITED: 1/6/2018 4:42 AM
This is the last year with the current draft odds- after this year it will be a lot more difficult to land a top pick due to them re-weighting the lottery, which is the main reason I wasn't too exited when we were winning (I like winning, but we need another major piece, and I'm not sure how we'd add one other than via the lottery). Right now the standings are:
http://proxy.espn.com/nba/standings?group=1 Trade deadline: Feb 8th Right now we're in the danger zone- out of the playoffs but middle of the pack (18-21). I don't think we have much of a shot at catching up with Atlanta (10-28), Grizz(12-27), Magic (12-27), Kings (12-25) because those teams are all really bad and any moves they make will likely be to tank further, but our records are closer than I realized. We need some big time losing to get out of the danger zone and into he top pick contention (though we're probably doomed to pick in our seemingly forever destined 7 to 8 range). So what players would you trade to tank? Candidates are: KOQ Looking at the mock drafts the top 5 picks are looking like: DeAndre Ayton (C) Ideally we need a SF, but Bagely's injury makes me wary. Doncic makes sense in terms of fit (can play both back court positions so can play with Tim Jr or Frank or even both at the same time). I'm not sure Bagely would make sense with KP. Would Ayton complement him? Alternatively we could go for Trae Young, and keep Frank as a backup/swing man. Anyone else anyone likes? So looking at the bigger picture, as much as it pains me, the best thing is to keep losing. I'd like us to trade KOQ (again as much as I like him, he's a free agent and he's taking mins from the cheaper, younger Willy). I'd keep Lance. I'd then have to think long and hard as to which one to trade: Kanter or Lee. It's really tough deciding at the trade deadline because we have no way of knowing our draft position. If we knew we were drafting Doncic or Young then I'd get rid of Lee. If we were going to end up with a front court player we'd have to get rid of Kanter. Maybe just keep it simple- don't trade both of them, just whichever one can get the higher return come the trade deadline. |
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GustavBahler
Posts: 41138 Alba Posts: 15 Joined: 7/12/2010 Member: #3186 |
1/6/2018 9:18 AM
Fuck Tanking
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NardDogNation
Posts: 27294 Alba Posts: 4 Joined: 5/7/2013 Member: #5555 |
1/6/2018 10:02 AM LAST EDITED: 1/6/2018 10:07 AM
I think tanking is a bad precedent. As I've been saying, we should be looking to develop this team organically. If they win games in the process: great! But we should not be looking to inflate our win totals by acquiring pricey veterans and playing them ahead of our youth. The veterans, after all, are known commodities and the only reason we were able to acquire them in the first place. The youth, on the other hand, are the only thing that can generate value since they can outplay their contracts.
Because of that, we should be looking to acquire as many players as possible that fit this profile as we structure an environment that promotes their growth. And the only way to do that is by leveraging cap space and cap flexibility to acquire as many draft picks as possible until we find the right mix of youth to build a winner (e.g. like Presti with the Thunder or Ainge with the Celtics). We also shouldn't be running these players into the ground like we're doing with KP, in order to try to gin up win totals. As for the draft, I'd do my best to target Mikal Bridges but I think he'd be out of our range. As for trades, I'd wait to see what the Pelicans do with DeMarcus Cousins. If he becomes available, Enes Kanter (and Courtney Lee) would be a solid return for a team still looking to win-now. I recommended this in another thread, which would give us the Nets pick via CLE (i.e. a better pick) and an improved pick (i.e. a NOP pick swap) for merely facilitating Cousins' move to Cleveland. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=y8motyzy Should something like that work out, I'd target Michael Porter (who is likely to drop) with the Nets pick and Mikal Bridges with the other. That should round out our frontcourt nicely for the future or at the very least position us well for a bigger trade. I know this sounds scatterbrained but in spite of all this talk about acquiring youth, my primary objective would be to get enough assets to trade for a star; secondary objective would be to actually develop the talent. I still think Giannis will become available in about 3 years and that we should start prepping for the possibility. Best case scenario is we get him and still retain some of the youth around he and KP to field a rotation; worst case scenario is we have a bunch of youth that hopefully forms a cohesive unit. Either alternative is better than what we're doing. |
reub
Posts: 21836 Alba Posts: 0 Joined: 1/13/2016 Member: #6227 |
1/7/2018 10:03 AM
NardDogNation wrote:I think tanking is a bad precedent. As I've been saying, we should be looking to develop this team organically. If they win games in the process: great! But we should not be looking to inflate our win totals by acquiring pricey veterans and playing them ahead of our youth. The veterans, after all, are known commodities and the only reason we were able to acquire them in the first place. The youth, on the other hand, are the only thing that can generate value since they can outplay their contracts. KP said that he wants to be an All Star this year. I think that All Stars should be able to play 32.5 minures/game. You can't have it both ways. |
NardDogNation
Posts: 27294 Alba Posts: 4 Joined: 5/7/2013 Member: #5555 |
1/7/2018 10:44 AM
reub wrote:NardDogNation wrote:I think tanking is a bad precedent. As I've been saying, we should be looking to develop this team organically. If they win games in the process: great! But we should not be looking to inflate our win totals by acquiring pricey veterans and playing them ahead of our youth. The veterans, after all, are known commodities and the only reason we were able to acquire them in the first place. The youth, on the other hand, are the only thing that can generate value since they can outplay their contracts. That doesn't mean we should suspend our common sense. The NBA doesn't have a good track record with the health of guys as tall as Porzingis. We need to be very careful not to break him before he even reaches him prime. He should be getting a similar treatment to Embiid especially in light of the fact he played all summer with Team Latvia. |